Mariano Rivera 2014 Topps Series 1 Subset – ‘Super Veterans’

When I got back into the hobby of baseball card collecting in the summer of 2008, my goal was to pay homage to the players that helped build my love for the game and the hobby.

The first subset I put together that helped me with that cause was the ‘Super Veterans’ subset from the 1983 Topps baseball card set. This set is a beauty and it highlights the true legends of the game as their careers were winding down.

For the last few years, I have actively been begging Topps to bring this subset back and pay honor to today’s ‘Super Veterans’. And while I cannot confirm that they obliged my request, I was very excited to see that a 15-card ‘Super Veterans’ subset was part of the 2014 Topps Series 1 release.

I am building the set now. Here is the card of Mariano Rivera:

Mariano Rivera closed his grand 19-season big league career at the end of the 2013 baseball season.

He retired as career leader in saves with 652. He has a record of 82-60 with an ERA of 2.21.

Rivera is a 13-time All-Star. In 1283+ innings of work, he struck out 1,173 batters. He has an all-time K:Walk ratio of 4.1:10. And he has a K per 9 innings average of 8.2.

Mariano Rivera has been to the postseason in 16 of his 19 major league seasons. He has pitched in 7 World Series match-ups and has won five titles. He has a record of 8-1 in the postseason along with 42 additional saves.